SPECTERThe promise
Specter does not collect your data. There is no account, no sign-in, no profile, no tracking and no advertising.
If you installed Specter from the Microsoft Store, that sentence is complete and literal: that edition collects nothing at all. Not anonymised, not aggregated, not briefly retained — the code that would send anything is not compiled into the Store build. The only network requests it can make are for map imagery and terrain elevation, and only when you open a view that draws them.
The direct-download editions differ in exactly one respect: they send two anonymous “the app started” / “the app closed” pings. That is disclosed in full in §3.1 and it is the only thing on this page that could be called analytics.
Everything below is the detail behind those three paragraphs. It is longer than the promise because being specific is the only way to make a promise checkable.
The short version
No recording, mission, callsign, replay, screenshot or report is ever uploaded to us or to anyone else. Specter runs with the network cable unplugged.
The app makes at most three kinds of outbound connection, all optional:
- Map imagery, downloaded from public map services only while you have the 2D map open.
- Terrain elevation tiles, downloaded once and cached on disk, only for Microsoft Flight Simulator reconstructions.
- Two anonymous launch pings — “the app started”, “the app closed” — tagged with a random identifier that is not linked to you. The Microsoft Store edition does not send these at all; the code is not compiled into it.
Everything else stays on your machine. The rest of this page is the detail behind those three lines.
This policy covers the Specter desktop application for Windows, including the free trial and all paid tiers, however you obtained it — the Microsoft Store, itch.io, or a direct download — and the Specter website.
Who is responsible for your data
Specter is an independent product operated by its owner, Kevin Pandya, trading as Specter (“Specter”, “we”, “us”). For data-protection purposes Specter is the data controller for the limited information described here.
Email contextgovern@gmail.com · Discord · specter-web-orcin.vercel.app
Specter is a one-person independent studio. There is no data-protection officer, because the scale and nature of the processing described here does not require one.
What Specter does with your flight recordings
Specter reads Tacview ACMI recordings (.acmi, .zip.acmi) and telemetry it records itself from Microsoft Flight Simulator and War Thunder. These files can contain your in-game callsign, the aircraft you flew, your simulated flight path and the other players present in a multiplayer mission.
All of this is processed entirely on your computer.
- Files are opened only when you choose them — by clicking Load, by dragging them onto the window, or by recording a session yourself.
- Parsing, event detection, scoring, 3D reconstruction and report generation all run locally.
- Exports — after-action reports, images, recorded .acmi files — are written to your own Documents folder.
- Nothing in a recording, not the file, not its name, not its contents, not any statistic derived from it, is transmitted off your machine by Specter.
If you choose to email us a recording or a log file to help diagnose a problem, we use it only to reproduce and fix that problem, and we delete it when the issue is closed.
Information we collect
3.1 Anonymous launch counts (direct-download editions only)
If you installed Specter from the Microsoft Store, skip this section. The Store edition is built without the code described here: it has no analytics endpoint compiled into it, it never creates an install identifier, and it sends no launch events. Microsoft’s own Partner Center reporting tells us how many copies were acquired and whether they crash, so there is nothing for the app to duplicate.
For the itch.io and direct-download editions, Specter sends two events to our own server at specter-c2.vercel.app:
| Event | When | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
| APP_START | The app finishes starting | The install identifier, and nothing else |
| APP_EXIT | The app closes normally | The install identifier, and nothing else |
The install identifier is a random UUID generated the first time Specter runs and stored in install.id inside Specter’s settings folder. It is not derived from your name, your email, your hardware, your Windows account or your licence key, and we hold nothing that links it back to you.
As with any internet request, our hosting provider observes the IP address the request came from. We do not use it to identify or locate individuals; it is kept in ordinary server logs.
We use these two events for one purpose: to know roughly how many people are using Specter and whether a release is running or crashing at startup. There is no page tracking, no feature tracking, no session recording, no advertising identifier, no third-party analytics SDK, and no profiling of any kind.
Turning it off. Install the Microsoft Store edition, which does not have the feature. Otherwise: Specter is designed to run fully offline, so blocking specter-c2.vercel.app in your firewall — or running with no internet connection at all — disables these pings with no loss of functionality whatsoever. The app does not check whether they succeeded, and no feature depends on them.
3.2 Information you give us
If you email us, join our Discord, or file an issue, we hold what you send: your email address or Discord handle, and the contents of your message, including any log file or recording you attach. We use it to answer you and to fix the problem, and for nothing else.
Log files (specter.log) record technical diagnostics — application errors, graphics device information and the file paths of recordings you opened. The log stays on your PC unless you choose to send it to us.
3.3 If you bought Specter through the Microsoft Store
Your purchase, payment, refund and licence entitlement are handled entirely by Microsoft. We never see your payment card, your billing address or your Microsoft account. Microsoft’s handling of that information is governed by the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
Microsoft provides us, through Partner Center, with aggregated and anonymised reports about the app: how many copies were acquired, in which markets, ratings and reviews, and automatically collected crash and performance reports. We cannot identify an individual customer from these reports. Where a review names its author, that name is published by Microsoft, not collected by us.
3.4 If you bought Specter elsewhere
Purchases made through itch.io or a payment provider are processed by that platform under its own privacy policy. We receive an order record and the email address needed to deliver your licence key, and we use that address to send you the key and, if necessary, to support that purchase.
3.5 What we never collect
To be explicit, Specter does not collect, transmit or store:
- Your flight recordings, or anything derived from them
- Your in-game callsign, squadron, server, or the other players in your missions
- Your real name, address, date of birth or payment details
- Your precise or approximate geographic location
- Your contacts, photos, documents, microphone, camera or clipboard
- Any list of other software or games installed on your PC
- Any advertising identifier
Specter does not sell, rent, share or trade personal information. It has never done so and there is no mechanism in the product by which it could.
Every network connection Specter makes
| Destination | Purpose | When | What is sent |
|---|---|---|---|
| specter-c2.vercel.app | Anonymous launch count (§3.1). Not present in the Microsoft Store edition |
On start and on exit | Random install ID; IP visible to the host |
| server.arcgisonline.com Esri World Imagery |
Satellite basemap tiles | Only while the 2D map view is open | Tile coordinates, IP, app user-agent |
| tile.openstreetmap.org | Fallback street basemap tiles | Only while the 2D map is open, if imagery is unavailable | Tile coordinates, IP, app user-agent |
| s3.amazonaws.com elevation-tiles-prod |
Public-domain terrain elevation for Flight Simulator reconstructions | First time a route is reconstructed; cached on disk afterwards | Tile coordinates, IP |
| 127.0.0.1:8111 War Thunder |
Reads the game’s own local telemetry feed | Only while War Thunder recording is running | Never leaves your computer |
| Flight Simulator via SimConnect | Reads live flight data | Only while MSFS recording is running | Local named pipe, or a TCP address you enter yourself for a sim on your own network |
The tile coordinates requested describe the area of the simulated mission you are reviewing, not your own physical location. Esri, OpenStreetMap and Amazon Web Services are independent providers and will see the IP address of the request under their own privacy policies: Esri, OpenStreetMap Foundation, AWS. If you never open the 2D map and never reconstruct an MSFS route, these connections are never made. Terrain tiles are cached on disk, so a route you have already viewed needs no connection again.
Updates. The Microsoft Store edition of Specter contains no self-updating code at all; updates are delivered by the Store itself. Direct-download editions check a signed update manifest on our website, which reveals only that a copy of Specter checked for an update.
External links. Buttons such as “Join Discord” open your default web browser. Once you leave Specter you are on that site under its own privacy policy.
What Specter stores on your own PC
None of this is transmitted anywhere. You may delete any of it at any time.
| Location | Contents |
|---|---|
| Documents\SPECTER\config.json | Your preferences and interface state |
| Documents\SPECTER\ | After-action reports you exported, and War Thunder captures |
| Documents\SPECTER\Recordings\ | Live captures you recorded |
| Documents\Specter\MSFS Captures\ | Flight Simulator captures you recorded |
| %APPDATA%\Specter\specter.log | Diagnostic log, including paths of files you opened |
| %APPDATA%\Specter\ | Your licence record and machine binding (§6), and the editable sandbox unit catalogue |
| %APPDATA%\Specter\install.id | The random install identifier (§3.1). Not created by the Microsoft Store edition |
| %LOCALAPPDATA%\Specter\terrain-cache\ | Downloaded elevation tiles, so the same route works offline later |
| %TEMP%\specter_extract_*.acmi | A zipped recording unpacked so it can be read. Deleted the next time you open one |
Anywhere else you point a Save dialog is yours to choose; Specter writes what you asked for and nothing else.
On a Microsoft Store installation, Windows redirects the %APPDATA%, %LOCALAPPDATA% and %TEMP% entries into the app’s own package folder under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\. The contents are the same; only the path differs, and uninstalling from the Store removes them for you. The Documents folders are not redirected — files you exported stay where you can find them after an uninstall, which is the point of exporting them.
For other installations, uninstalling Specter does not automatically remove these folders. Delete them by hand if you want every trace gone.
Licensing, the free trial and machine binding
The free trial and the paid version are the same program, and using the trial involves no additional data collection of any kind in either edition.
Microsoft Store edition. The trial runs for seven days with every feature unlocked, and Microsoft ends it. Whether you are in the trial or have purchased is read from the Windows licence Microsoft issues for the app on your own device. Specter asks Windows a local question and gets a yes or no; it transmits nothing, and it never sees your Microsoft account, your name or your payment details. Windows itself may contact Microsoft Store services to keep that licence current — that exchange is between your copy of Windows and Microsoft, under the Microsoft Privacy Statement, and Specter is not a party to it. There is no licence key in this edition and no key is ever entered or stored.
Other editions. These have no time limit: the unlicensed app stays usable indefinitely with the learning and headline features open and the deeper analysis tools locked. When you activate a licence key, Specter verifies it offline, against a public key built into the app. No server is contacted, no key is transmitted, and activation works with no internet connection.
What your licence is tied to. A Store purchase is tied to your Microsoft account, so it follows you to a new PC without anyone needing to be emailed. A licence key is tied to one computer by the machine identifier below; if you replace that computer, email us and we release the key. Neither arrangement requires us to hold anything about you beyond, in the second case, the email address you bought with.
To keep one key on one computer, those editions derive a machine identifier by hashing the Windows MachineGuid and the system volume serial number. The result is a one-way hash stored only in your own user profile, and it is never sent anywhere. The Microsoft Store edition does not use it — Microsoft handles per-device licensing.
Who else is involved
| Provider | Role | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Vercel Inc. | Hosts our website and the endpoint that receives the two launch events | USA / global edge |
| Microsoft Corporation | Store distribution, payment, licensing, crash reporting | Global |
| Esri, OpenStreetMap Foundation, Amazon Web Services | Public map and elevation tile services | Global |
| Discord Inc. | Optional community server | Global |
| Google (Gmail) | Our support mailbox | Global |
We use no advertising networks, no marketing platforms, no data brokers and no third-party analytics products.
Legal bases for processing (UK/EU users)
- Anonymous launch counts (§3.1) — our legitimate interest in knowing how many installations exist and whether a release starts correctly. The data is minimal and not linked to an identified person. You may object at any time by blocking the endpoint or contacting us.
- Support correspondence (§3.2) — performance of our agreement with you, and our legitimate interest in supporting the product.
- Purchase records (§3.3, §3.4) — performance of the sales contract, and compliance with tax and accounting obligations.
How long we keep things
- Launch events: no longer than 24 months, then deleted.
- Server request logs held by our hosting provider: retained on that provider’s standard schedule, typically 30 days or less.
- Support email and attachments: deleted when the issue is closed, and in any case within 24 months.
- Purchase and licence records: retained as long as required to honour the licence and to satisfy tax and accounting law.
Your rights
Depending on where you live you may have the right to access, correct, delete, port, restrict or object to the processing of your personal information, and to withdraw consent. Residents of California may additionally request disclosure of the categories of personal information collected and may opt out of its sale or sharing — Specter does not sell or share personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of.
To exercise any right, email contextgovern@gmail.com. We answer within 30 days and there is no charge.
One honest limitation: the install identifier in §3.1 is deliberately random and we hold nothing that links it to a person, so we usually cannot tell which records are yours. If you want those records removed, send us the contents of your install.id file and we will delete every record matching it.
If you believe we have handled your data improperly you may complain to your local supervisory authority; in the UK that is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).
International transfers
Our hosting provider operates globally, so the limited data in §3.1 may be processed on servers outside your country, including in the United States. Where data protection law requires it, transfers rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent approved mechanism operated by that provider.
Children
Specter is a technical analysis tool for a combat flight simulator and is intended for adults and older teenagers. It is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, email us and we will delete it.
Security
The information we hold is deliberately tiny, which is the strongest protection available. All network traffic from Specter uses HTTPS. Licence keys are verified with Ed25519 signatures, and update packages are verified by signature and by SHA-256 hash before use. Support email is protected by the security of our mail provider and two-factor authentication.
No system is perfect. If you find a security problem in Specter, please email contextgovern@gmail.com rather than posting it publicly, and we will work with you on it.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes materially we will update the version and effective date at the top, publish the new version at this address, and note the change in the release notes of the version that introduces it. Continuing to use Specter after that date means the revised policy applies.
The current version always lives at specter-web-orcin.vercel.app/privacy.
Contact
Email contextgovern@gmail.com with the subject line Specter privacy request, or reach us on Discord.